WWF Coliseum Video Collection: World Tour ’91 (1991)
Coliseum Video compilation. The front cover features Undertaker staring at Ultimate Warrior’s nipples, while the back promises a shopping adventure with Ted DiBiase
Lord Alfred Hayes hosts, and it looks like he's actually on location in Europe. He boards a train (the 'WWF Express') because it's time for a different kind of express...
The Rockers v The Orient Express: From UK Rampage on April 24 1991 in London England. The Rockers bring Andre the Giant out to counteract any interference from Mr. Fuji. Good in theory, but who's he gonna catch at this point? Shawn Michaels starts with Kato, and they measure each other. Kato dominates a few criss crosses, but Shawn gets the better of the big one, so Tanaka comes in to attack, but Marty Jannetty cuts him off. The Rockers clean house, and the dust settles on Marty and Kato. They feel each other out, and Kato takes control with a bodyslam, but Tanaka misses a headbutt drop, and Shawn gets the tag. They hit Tanaka with stereo jumping backelbows for two, but Michaels gets trapped in the heel corner, and double teamed. Shawn dodges a corner charge from Kato at allow the tag back to Marty for a splash, and he works the arm. Kato powers him back into the Express corner, but Marty dodges the double team, and dropkicks Kato for two. Tanaka tags in, but Marty is ready with an armdrag into an armbar, and he dominates a big criss cross. Over to Shawn to keep on the arm, but Tanaka powers into the corner for the tag, and Kato unloads. Reversal sequence leads to a criss cross, with Shawn armdragging him into an armbar. Kato escapes with a whip into the ropes, and Tanaka is ready with a cheap shot this time, and the Express take over. They cut the ring in half on Michaels, and it's all very basic stuff, but they're doing a great job of whipping the crowd into a frenzy. Marty gets the hot tag after Shawn fights off a double team, and Roseanne Barr the door! Jumping backelbow on Kato gets two, so Fuji whacks him with the cane, but that gets him attacked by Andre. With Fuji down, Andre steals the cane, and pops Kato with it - allowing the Rockers to dive with stereo flying fistdrops at 12:56. Basic, but well worked. ** (Original rating: *)
Warlord v Jim Neidhart: Also from UK Rampage '91. Roddy Piper can be entertaining on commentary, but he sounds cracked out here, and it's really annoying. Anvil works a headlock to start, and a power showdown results in Warlord getting knocked out of the ring via shoulderblock. Warlord stalls for a bit, and back in, he challenges Jim to a test-of-strength. Neidhart looks to accept, so Warlord tries a cheap shot, but Anvil sees it coming. Jim with a headbutt drop to the groin, and it's back to the headlock. Warlord escapes and uses an inverted atomic drop, followed by a clothesline to put Jim on the outside. Warlord jumps off the apron with an axehandle to the back, and Anvil eats steps. Back in, Warlord works him over in slow fashion, lots of pounding. Bearhug, as Vince McMahon as a hard time containing himself while looking at Warlord's thighs. Too bad Warlord was retired by 1996, because if they brought him in to challenge Shawn for the belt, we might have seen Vince orgasm live at an In Your House. International Incident indeed! Neidhart actually tries a sunset flip, but Warlord blocks him, and it's more pounding. The crowd is staying surprisingly engaged for such a dull match. These English crowds are the best. Warlord works a chinlock, but Anvil slugs free, so Warlord boots him in the gut to put him back down. More pounding, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and Jim counters with a facebuster. Anvil starts making his comeback, and a clothesline gets him two. Into the corner for a ten-punch so weak and loose that both Vince and Roddy are at a loss for words, followed by a 2nd rope axehandle for two. Splash, but Warlord lifts his knees to block. He tries a charge in the corner, but Anvil dodges, and he schoolboys for the pin at 13:30. Very plodding and way too long, but I was too hard on it the first time around. Don't get me wrong, this was bad. But not negative stars bad. ¼* (Original rating: -½*)
Hayes is still riding the rails, learning about the magic of postcards
Randy Savage v Rick Martel: TV taping dark match from Las Vegas Nevada on March 26 1991, right after WrestleMania VII. Savage hasn't quite mastered his babyface entrance yet. Martel attacks while Savage is holding the ropes open for Miss Elizabeth, and he pounds Macho down. This just proves, once again: chivalry is for suckers. Randy fights him off and dives with a flying axehandle to send Martel to the outside, and Randy dives after him with another flying axehandle out there, but Martel moves. Macho hurts his knee on the landing, and Martel unloads on him against the guardrail out there. That allows Martel to move in on Elizabeth, but that proves to be a big mistake. Yeah, what about Savage's history would make you think that's a good idea? Martel fights him off on the way back inside, however, and he uses a bodyslam to put Randy down for some choking. Savage fights back with a small package for two, but Martel cuts him off with a clothesline for two, and puts the boots to him in the corner. 2nd rope bodypress misses, allowing Savage a suplex for two, and an atomic drop follows. Clothesline knocks Martel to the outside, and Randy is on his tail for a piledriver on the floor. This is still 1991, is he trying to kill the dude?! Back in, Macho dives with the Flying Elbowdrop at 5:59. His entrance still needed work, but man, he sure settled into the babyface match formula he'd keep for the rest of his career extremely quickly. * (Original rating: ¼*)
It's time for Etiquette, with Lord Alfred Hayes. Hayes takes Brooklyn Brawler and Sensational Sherri to a fancy restaurant, in an effort to rid them of poor social graces. Sherri trimming her toenails at the table is pretty funny. She also tucks her napkin into her top instead of across her lap, and accuses Hayes of getting fresh when he tries to correct it. I don't know how they weren't cracking up constantly while filming this
Roddy Piper v Ted DiBiase: TV taping dark match from Cedar Rapid Iowa on April 16 1991. DiBiase has Piper's crutch from WrestleMania, and tries keeping Roddy from getting into the ring, but Piper charges in and destroys him. That draws Sherri in to try and save, so Piper forces a kiss on her, which is treated as totally hilarious. 1991 is not 2020, that's for damn sure. Piper with a facebuster, so Sherri tries another distraction, allowing Ted a takedown. Figure four, but Roddy uses his free boot to block, sending DiBiase right into Sherri in the process. DiBiase manages to hang Piper in a tree of woe to allow him to abuse the bad knee, and he whacks Roddy with the crutch as Sherri distracts the referee. Ted works the leg, but Roddy blocks another figure four attempt, so DiBiase tries a 2nd rope axehandle, and you can guess how that goes. Did he ever hit that one? DiBiase tries using the crutch again, but it backfires on him this time, and now Piper works the leg. That draws Sherri in with the crutch, but Piper blocks the attack, and beats on both heels with the weapon. The referee is being surprisingly lenient here. He tries to take the crutch away, but Piper shoves him down, and that's enough to get his disqualified at 6:46. ¾* (Original rating: ¼*)
Back at the restaurant, Brawler and Sherri have tied and gagged Hayes so they can eat how they please. This, of course, ends in a food fight. I just noticed that all the plates have the WWF logo on them, so I'm guessing this must be a restaurant within Titan Towers. And thank God, because I don't think the health code would allow them to film anywhere else
Jake Roberts v Earthquake: Another dark match from the same Cedar Rapids taping. Jake tries running in, but Earthquake puts the boots to him. Backdrop, but Jake throws a kneelift to block, and he tries going for the arm, but the size difference is not on his side. Jake tries jabs instead, and a big clothesline staggers Earthquake, but fails to take him off of his feet. Cross corner whip sets up a shoulderblock, but Jake just bounces off of the big guy, and goes down like a ton of bricks. Earthquake with another shoulderblock, and he puts the boots to Jake until Roberts falls out of the ring. That allows Earthquake to go after Lucifer, but Jake is able to save. Yeah, no one abuses that animal but Jake! Inside, Jake takes him down with a short-clothesline, but Earthquake railroads him into the corner to block the DDT. Earthquake goes after the leg for a while, and it's Earthquake Splash time, but Jake rolls out of the ring during the tremors. That allows Earthquake to go after the snake again, but Jake prevents him from splashing it, and he releases Lucifer for the DQ at 7:36. Why did they always pick the most boring stuff for these tapes? ¼* (Original rating: -*)
WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Mr. Perfect v Shawn Michaels: From Road to WrestleMania VII on March 17 1991 (taped March 11) in Pensacola Florida. Embarrassingly empty building for TV here. Perfect is dismissive of his challenger at the bell, so Shawn challenges him to put 'em up, and Perfect is game. Michaels wins that exchange, so Perfect tries to bail, but Shawn keeping pounding him as he does, then dives with a crazy tope suicida. He way overshot that one, and he's lucky he didn't break his neck. Michaels with mounted punches on the floor, but a charge ends badly when Perfect drops him across the rail, drawing Marty Jannetty out to check on him. Shawn beats the count in, but Perfect is ready and waiting with right hands. He uses a standing dropkick for two, and unloads chops in the corner. Cross corner whip flips Shawn out to the apron for a clothesline, and Perfect pulls him back in to bash into the mat a bunch of times. Kneelift sends Shawn back to the outside, and the challenger is doing a great job of selling this so far. Marty helps him beat the count, but Perfect is ready with a snapmare to set up a somersault necksnap for two. Backdrop, but Shawn throws a boot to block - giving Perfect a chance to sell. Perfect cuts off the comeback with a sleeper, but Shawn escape with a jawbreaker, so Perfect throws a big kneelift to buy more time. He wastes time jawing at Marty, however, and Jannetty straight up decks him. That draws Bobby Heenan out to complain, and shit, man's got a point. Jannetty put his hands on the champion in a title match without any real provocation. All this buys Shawn recovery time, and he crotches Perfect on the post. Inverted atomic drop and a standard atomic drop send Perfect bumping into the corner, and Shawn slugs him down for two. Superkick gets two, and a swinging neckbreaker sets up a flying fistdrop, so Heenan charges him. Shawn is able to dodge him, but the distraction buys the champion time. PerfectPlex looks to finish, but Big Boss Man runs in for the DQ at 10:16. Perfect/Shawn underwhelming? I'm surprised too. ** (Original rating: **)
As promised, we're going shopping with Ted DiBiase. He takes his limousine to his jeweler (Betterridge Jewelers in Greenwich), where his Million Dollar Belt has been polished up, and he buys a ton of diamond rings. Well, I sure hope they made sure he got receipts. What a great character the Million Dollar Man was. You could always pop him into these little skits, and it worked every time because the character works so well
Jim Duggan v Kendo Nagasaki: From a WWF/SWS joint event at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on March 30 1991. They slug it out to start, with Duggan getting the better of it. Nagasaki ends up down in the corner, where Jim puts the boots to him, and Hacksaw grabs a headlock. He dumps Nagasaki over the top, and follows to send Kendo into the post. Back in, Duggan clotheslines him over the top, but a corner charge ends badly on the way back in, and Nagasaki superkicks him for the pin at 2:42. Well, that was an odd finish. Duggan gobbled him up for the entire match, and then Nagasaki wins with a single move... so weird. Also odd that they'd feature a WWF guy losing to a random dude the audience renting this tape never even heard of. DUD (Original rating: DUD)
Handicap Match: Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior v Sgt. Slaughter, Undertaker, and General Adnan: From the same post-WrestleMania taping in Vegas as the Savage/Martel match. Hogan and Warrior double team Slaughter to get started, beating him to the point where Sarge is trying to tag to Warrior. Stereo big boots put him down, and Warrior unloads clotheslines, while taking shots at Undertaker along the way. Hogan tags in and tries a backdrop, but Slaughter blocks with a boot, and quickly passes to Undertaker to go to work on the Hulkster. They cut the ring in half, but Hulk reverses a cross corner whip from Slaughter, and Sarge takes the big bump to the outside. That fucker was crazy. Undertaker cuts off the tag to Warrior, however, and the heels go back to work on the king of Hulkmania. They should bring Michael Buffer back, honestly. Warrior gets the hot tag, but quickly makes the mistake of trying to fight all three heels, and Slaughter rakes the eyes. That allows Undertaker a jumping clothesline, and they go to work on their new victim. Slaughter misses a flying splash to allow the tag back to the Hulkster, and the crowd is surprisingly dead for a hot tag. Big boot and a schoolboy get two on Slaughter, so Sarge goes to the eyes to slow Hulk down, and he throws a short-clothesline. Camel Clutch, but Warrior breaks it up, and brawls on the outside with Undertaker. That allows Slaughter and Adnan to double up on Hulk, but they have a miscommunication, and Hogan pins Adnan at 9:47. Kind of an interesting combination of all of Hogan and Warrior's big programs for 1991. I never noticed how Hulk kept taking all of his sloppy seconds that year. Too bad Warrior never feuded with Earthquake to even things out. Also, Undertaker cutting off hot tags like Bobby Eaton feels really weird. Slaughter was bumping around like a nutcase, though. ¾* (Original rating: DUD)
Hayes stands in front of a green screen with English Parliament in the background, signing off
BUExperience: The two matches involving Shawn Michaels were okay. The rest, not so much.
Not a good addition to your Coliseum Collection.
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